Need to transfer your iPhone contacts to your PC for a backup or to import them to Gmail or Outlook? Here's how to do it for free, without iTunes.

Here’s a free way to get your iPhone contacts on your PC without iTunes

These days iPhones and iPads work almost independently and don’t need a PC or iTunes. They can automatically back themselves up to iCloud and you can buy apps, games, music, movies, books and more on the device itself.

However, if you need to copy all your contacts from your iPhone to your PC there are several options. We’ll explain the simplest which doesn’t involve installing any software and won’t cost any money: iCloud.

Of course, you can use iTunes, or any number of third-party apps which can copy stuff from your iPhone to your PC.

How do I turn on iCloud?

First, you’ll need to enable iCloud on your iPhone or just double-check that contacts are already being synced with iCloud.

To do this, open the Settings app and tap on your name right at the top. If you’re running an older version of iOS, you’ll have to scroll down or search settings for iCloud.

Assuming you have a recent version of iOS, after tapping your name you’ll see iCloud about half way down the screen. Tap it, then in the ‘Apps using iCloud’ section, check that the toggle next to Contacts is enabled.

Note that you do not need iCloud backup to be enabled for contacts to be synced.

How do I get iPhone contacts on PC?

Next, open a web browser on your PC. Go to icloud.com and log in with your Apple ID. You might be prompted to enter a verification code (which you’ll get from your iPhone) if two-factor authentication is enabled on your account.

If so, tap Allow on the prompt on your iPhone, then enter the code displayed and choose to ‘Trust this browser’.

You’ll see all the available iCloud apps, with contacts second from the left. Click on it and you should see all the contacts stored on your iPhone.

This may be all you need, but if you want to copy those contacts to another application or service, you’ll need to export them.

To export iCloud contacts, first click on a contact in the list. Then press Ctrl-A to select all contacts (it will look like the screen above).

Now click on the cog icon at the bottom-left corner and choose Export vCard…

This brings up a window where you can choose an application with which to open the file (such as Outlook) or you can save the file on your hard drive.

If you wanted to import the contacts to Outlook, choose that first option. If it’s another service or an application that isn’t listed the choose to save the file.

How to import iPhone contacts to Gmail

Go to the app or webmail (such as Gmail) where you want to copy the contacts and look for an import option.

If Gmail, contacts are somewhat hard to find on the web version. But click the down arrow next to Gmail and you’ll see Contacts. This opens in a new tab where you’ll need to expand the ‘More’ section to see the Import option.

Now choose the CSV or Vcard file option, browse to the file you just downloaded from iCloud and your contacts will be added to Gmail.